Girl born from Fire
by ChitandaChisa
Summary: Mikan's birth heralded her mother's death, leaving her father a desperate grieving widow. When he remarries, Mikan's life takes a turn for the worse as she struggles with their demands and ambitions. When Mikan meets wayward Prince Natsume will things start looking up?
1. Prologue

A/N: I don't own Gakuen Alice. If I did, recent chapters would have gone much differently T^T

**Prologue **

I was born at midnight, to a sickly mother and an absent minded father. I was small, smaller than a baby carried full term should be, I was skinny, and constantly shaking, even wrapped inside of my swaddling clothes. My mother held me quietly in her arms as I struggled to survive, not knowing that every breath I breathed I was taking directly from my mother's dying body.

With my coming into the world, she was being taken out of it, and she knew it. She smiled at the man tending to her, her childhood friend, and my godfather, and she handed me to him. I wailed, not wanting to leave my mothers arms, cold and thin as they were.

"Her name…" she wheezed through cracked gray lips.

"Is Mikan, and she will make me proud." These were her last words, before she died.


	2. Ugly Stepsisters

A/N: I'm procrastinating I know, I'll buckle down on Success here soon, look forward to it!

**Chapter One**

_If you can see the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future_

_Danielle Steel

I was fifteen when my father brought home Himemiya, I was shocked at her beauty, and she seemed gentle enough when she took my father's hand. She had dinner with us, and talked about her two beautiful daughters; Luna and Sumire. I thought that she really loved my father.

I was wrong.

What Himemiya loved most was money, and my father had plenty of it, within weeks of my meeting Himemiya, they were married. And I was forced to share a room with her two awful daughters.

"Mikan you're so slow!" called Luna from downstairs, jerking me out of a pleasant dream I'd been having of a dark haired stranger sweeping me off my feet. I groaned and rolled over, pulling the pillow over my head only to have it yanked off again the next second. I looked up into the eyes of Sumire, who flashed a wicked grin at me.

Sumire was a sufferer of pack mentality, if Luna was being crude then so was she, but on her own she was rather harmless. I sat up and yawned, stretching my arms over my head.

"Hurry up." said Sumire, tossing the pillow at my face.

"Mother is gone and so it's up to you to make us breakfast."

I rolled my eyes, it was up to me to do a lot of things. I hastily brushed my hair and washed my face as Sumire rapped on the door over and over again. Taking my time tying my hair into two pigtails, I took even longer getting dressed, and when I was finally done Luna had joined her sister in knocking on the bathroom door.

"I'm coming~" I said as I swept out of the bathroom, only to be violently pushed back into it, falling on my backside. I looked up, wide-eyed into the face of Luna, who loomed over me. She pressed her foot against my chest and pushed me farther back onto the bathroom floor.

"Oh, you think that's cute huh?" she asked. Sumire looked very uncomfortable.

"That's your own little act of defiance, is it?" she bent over me, flashing her perfectly white teeth, her hair fell over her eyes, giving her a malicious appearance. I was frightened, I couldn't help it. Her foot pressed harder into my chest and I yelped involuntarily, she straightened up and chuckled.

"Get down stairs and make breakfast." She said, turning around and flipping her honey colored hair over her shoulder.

I did as she asked.

After I had washed up the dishes, I took the first opportunity to leave the house, yelling over my shoulder that we were out of blackberry jam. I ran as fast as my feet could take me, only stopping once I reached Hotaru's house. She didn't answer on the first knock, or the second, or the seventh, but she answered on the twelfth, and all annoyance melted from her face when she saw me.

"What's wrong dummy?" she asked, escorting me inside and shutting the door behind me.

"Did you fall on the way here?" I wiped the sweat off of my face with my handkerchief, and sat down, breathing heavily. Hotaru sat down in a large plush chair across from me. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were sympathetic.

"Luna went too far this time." I said, once I had gathered myself. Hotaru's eyes darted towards the side, to what we affectionately called "The Weapons Closet".

"What'd she do?" she asked, her voice betraying nothing. Sighing, I put a hand on my chest and pushed on the area where Luna had stepped on me. I patiently recited the entire story.

"Where did she hurt you?" Hotaru asked, I pulled down the collar of my blouse, exposing a large purply-brown bruise the size of a grapefruit. Hotaru clicked her tongue, she looked for all the world like we had just been discussing the weather, but I could tell by the set of her jaw that she was furious.

"You can't keep putting up with this Mikan." She said. another indication of her anger, she only ever called me by name if thing's were serious. I nodded

"I've been saving up my wages from Anna's bakery, soon I'll have enough to get my own place, nothing fancy, but it's better than living with Luna." I said. Hotaru's eyes once again darted to the Weapons Closet.

"It's not fair that they've chased you out of your own house." She said quietly. I stood up and straightened my skirts.

"I know…but I don't mind really, it'll be good to live on my own after all, you pull it off fine." I said with a grin, Hotaru rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but I'm not an idiot."

I shrugged as I headed for the door, Hotaru followed me, I could see the gears turning in her head.

"Don't worry about me Hotaru." I hugged her tight, and she groaned, pushing me off of her.

"Promise me something." She said, as I was heading out the door.

"Sure, anything." I said, slipping on my working clogs. Her brow furrowed, a rare display of worry.

"Be careful." She said. I hugged her again, this time she didn't shove me off.

"I will be." I said, kissing her cheek in farewell and heading out towards the Market Place.

Halfway to the market place I took a detour, dipping into a forested path on my right where a field of wild flowers grew year round, side by side with a field of wild pumpkins. I sat on one such pumpkin, one as large as a barstool and with a big dent in the side, perfect for sitting, and weaved daisy chains absently, calming my racing mind.

My fingers moved rapidly, as I struggled to make my mind focus on one thing, I thought about the tin off money I kept buried out in the stable, I was only 5 gold rabbits away from owning my own house, I already had one picked out in my mind, a shabby one story cottage, that, with a little love could become something worth while, something I could be proud of.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by a loud crash, I jumped to my feet, ready to run like a startled deer, but I was too late, whatever it was crashed right into me, knocking me over and splitting open the pumpkin. I yelped as something that felt like an elbow jabbed me right where Luna had stepped on me.

"What the Hell?" the voice was distinctly male, I kicked my legs frantically.

"Get _off_" I hissed through my teeth.

I opened my eyes, and found two pairs of bright crimson eyes staring back at me. I sat up with a jolt, smacking my head into whoever's head was in front of mine, and promptly fell back down, unconscious.


	3. Of Rich Strangers and Black Berry Jam

A/N: Thank you so much for all of the reviews! I've been completely out of it, like…sleeping 24 hours out of it, I'll get back to work now

**Chapter Two**

_There's nothing in this world so sweet as love, And next to love, the sweetest thing is hate. _

_Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I awoke with a groan, my head felt like it was rushing with water, and when I sat up it felt like it weighed upwards of a hundred pounds. Judging by the position on the sun in the sky, I hadn't been out for more than a couple of minutes. I bit my lower lip as I struggled to remember what had happened.

It didn't take long, because my eyes flittered up and met with _his. _He was painfully handsome, his crimson eyes glowed with wicked intensity and his messy black hair ruffled ever so slightly in the wind. Instantly I though of the dark haired stranger who'd swept me off my feet in my dream. Unfortunately, he killed that image the moment he opened him mouth.

"I can see your panties, Polka Dots." He said, his voice dead cold, but not quite monotonous. I squealed, and hastily tucked my skirts around me, shooting him the deadliest of glares. His clothes were covered with pumpkin guts, and there was a long tear in the knee, but I could see that they had once been quite fine.

"You pervert!" I hissed, I tried to get to my feet, but instantly a wave of dizziness took over me, and I sat back down, cradling my head in my hands.

"You're the one who showed them to me." He said, I sighed, but didn't bother to look back up at him.

My free hand fluttered to my chest, where my bruise was, it now hurt ten times worse than it had, if that was even possible. Finally, the boy seemed to take pity on me, he stood up, and stepped closer, tentatively, like maybe he thought I was contagious or something.

"Oi, knock it off." He said. I looked up at him, his eyes weren't betraying any emotion.

I sighed, and attempted to get to my feet again, this time it worked, I kneaded the tender area with my fingers, and checked for blood, luckily, there was none. I stepped past him, tilting my chin up haughtily. He spun around and caught my hand

"Wait." He said, his voice gruff and commanding, I was compelled to do just that.

"You can't let anyone know you've seen me." He said his red eyes boring into mine.

"Why not?" I asked, half curious, half because I felt spiteful. He looked momentarily uncertain, his eyes darting this way and that, but he got over it quickly.

"Because you can't, that's why." I felt my lips tilt into a smirk. I jerked my hand out of his and did what was arguably the least intelligent thing to do to someone who you'd just met.

I baited him.

"Well, because you say so…I'll head straight to the Authorities after this." Stupid, stupid, stupid. I didn't know this guy, he could have been a murderer, or anybody really, and I was small and un-armed, easily brought down to size, I suppose I was still a bit dizzy or something. He grabbed my wrist again and spun me around, he looked angry, his brow was twitching, I realized I had done something stupid.

I held up my hands in surrender.

"I'm sorry, I'm kidding, I won't tell anyone I was just…knocked stupid." Fear churned like dirty water in my heart, I kept eye contact with him. he shook his head so his hair fell over his eyes.

"I can't let you go now." He said simply, I felt like all of the air had been sucked out of my body.

"Please." I whispered, my eyes widening to roughly the size of dinner plates. He kept his hand clasped on my wrist as he inspected his nails.

"Where are you headed?" he asked.

"I was just going to buy some Blackberry jam, and then head home." I told him, my voice taking on a pleading tone.

"I'm coming." He said, dropping my wrist and pulling up the hood of his dark red cloak. I gaped at him.

"You're what?" I asked as he swept past me.

"I'm coming to make sure you don't go running to the Authorities." He looked back at me pointedly. Confused, I followed after him.

OoOoOoOo

We walked together in silence, my eyes cast downwards, chewing desperately on my lips.

"So…" I began, as the silence was making me uncomfortable.

"My name is Mikan Sakura." I said, he responded with a little grunt, keeping his gaze fixed ahead of him.

"What's yours?" I ventured.

"That's none of your business." He said. I flinched at his tone, and upon recovery I fixed upon him a glare so lethal that I half expected him to drop dead.

He didn't even look at me, just continued forward, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, dripping with pumpkin guts. We walked in silence for a few moments, until he finally said.

"It's Ruka." I blinked up at him, and he shrugged his shoulders, meeting my eyes with some hesitation.

"Ruka Nogi."

OoOoOoOo

I squirmed under the suspicious look of the shop keeper, Mr. Tsukishiro had sold to me since I was five, and he knew me well. His small black eyes kept darting to Ruka and back to me.

"Are you paying for her sir?" he asked. Translation: Are you courting her? I opened my mouth to say that I was paying for myself when Ruka produced a coin purse out of his pocket.

The coins clinked together as he spread them out on the counter. My mouth fell open, as did poor Mr. Tsukishiro.

"I-I can pay for myself." I said, eyeing the silver and gold coins Ruka had spread out as I clutched my own bronze ones.

"Don't be stubborn." Said Ruka, pushing the money towards Mr. Tsukishiro.

"How much will this buy?"

Mr. Tsukishiro began wrapping jars of jam in brown paper, and before long I had about twelve jars, and a bag to carry them in. I stared stupidly at Ruka as we headed towards my house.

"Why did you buy the Jam for me?" I asked, after a long silence. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't really know." He said, he sounded almost like he was in pain.

A/N: For clarification purposes the boy Mikan met _is _Natsume, he's using Ruka's name as a alias.


End file.
